Formula 1 mid-year review: Best races so far
2:55

As the Formula 1 fraternity embarks on its mid-year break, we take a look back at the top five races of 2014 so far.

Fox Sports

12 Aug 2014

Sport/Motor Sport/F1

Which was the best race of the F1 season so far?Source: Getty Images

FOR all the doom and gloom amid the rule changes at the start of the year, the 2014 Formula 1 season has been full of excitement.

Far from the dull, uninspiring processions we were told to expect, several of the races have been absolute barn burners.

Here’s our top five:

Hamilton leads early in the Spanish Grand Prix.Source: Getty Images

No. 5 — SPANISH GRAND PRIXThere was only really one proper, sustained battle for position during this race. Fortunately, it was for the win.

The Mercedes duo of Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg split their tyre use strategies during the race. Rosberg, who trailed Hamilton during the opening stint, took on the harder of the two Pirelli options for the middle stint of the race, while the Englishman elected to use his harder rubber for the run to the flag.

That set up a thrilling final stint where Rosberg, on the softer, faster Pirellis, tried to run down his teammate on the harder, slower compound. It was a fantastic display of two of the best drivers in the championship driving flat-out in pursuit of victory.

Rosberg came up just short with Hamilton taking the win, but it was how he did it that would steal the headlines in coming weeks. He had used a more aggressive engine mapping setting — against the wishes of the team — to boost his car’s performance in the closing stages as he tried to hold off his teammate.

Ricciardo leads into the final lap in Canada.Source: Getty Images

No. 4 — CANADIAN GRAND PRIXOkay, so the opening 36 laps weren’t that exciting. Rosberg and Hamilton had checked out to a massive lead, while there wasn’t all that much going on in the minor positions, either.

Then came Lap 37. Both Mercedes cars suffered identical hybrid system failures, robbing them of around 160 horsepower for the second half of the race. It also stripped the cars of some of their braking performance, causing Hamilton’s brakes to overheat and fail.

But Rosberg was still safe, Sergio Perez’s one-stop strategy left him as the cork in the bottle of the battle for second, the slow Force India at the head of a train of cars led by Daniel Ricciardo.

Knowing a win was within his grasp, Ricciardo made a do-or-die move past the Mexican with a handful of laps to go before running down Rosberg on the penultimate lap to take an unlikely but highly-popular victory, his first in F1.

Formula 1 mid-year review: Top five shocks of 2014 so far
2:48

The 2014 Formula One season has been highlighted by a number of shocks, with Mercedes setting up camp on the podium and Daniel Ricciardo breaking out in style.

Fox Sports

13 Aug 2014

Sport/Motor Sport/F1

No. 3 — BRITISH GRAND PRIXA wet-dry qualifying session mixed up the grid, leaving some very fast cars sitting down the order. Among them were home favourite Hamilton in sixth, Ricciardo eighth, while both Ferraris and Williams were eliminated in Q1.

Raikkonen crashed heavily after running wide on the opening lap, collected by Massa and others when the barriers spat the Ferrari back onto the track. Damage to the armco saw the race stopped for over an hour while repairs were made.

When the race resumed both Red Bulls had changed tyres, two of several electing to get their harder tyre stint out of the way. Rosberg took off at the front, while Hamilton carved his way forward to be in second after just a few laps. Alonso was also flying, passing Ricciardo around the outside at Club to move up into eighth.

Hamilton was running a slightly different pit strategy to try and jump past Rosberg, but it became moot when a gearbox failure forced the German out of a race for the first time in 2014. Hamilton raced serenely on to a popular victory, while bedlam went on behind him.

Vettel was up to second but pitted for a third time, allowing Bottas and Ricciardo past. The latter gambled on a two-stop strategy, after finding the softer Pirellis were lasting longer than expected. He nursed the tyres home in a perfectly-judged drive, coming home just a carlength ahead of a charging Jenson Button.

Meanwhile, Vettel spent the rest of his race absorbed in a battle for fifth with Alonso, who jumped past the Red Bull after it came out of the pits. For several laps they played a high-speed game of chicken, Alonso placing his Ferrari exactly where it needed to be to prevent Vettel from making a move. Eventually the Ferrari left the tiniest of gaps through Luffield, the pair running side by side through Woodcote before Vettel edged ahead into Copse.

The Mercedes fought hard under the lights in Bahrain.Source: Getty Images

No. 2 — BAHRAIN GRAND PRIXLike Spain, Bahrain was a race between the two Mercedes, but what a race! The night-time race was the first time this season that Hamilton and Rosberg went at it, hammer and tongs, for a race victory. But the battles didn’t stop there, with plenty of exciting racing up and down the field.

Hamilton jumped his polesitting teammate on the start but has to fight hard to hold Rosberg off around the opening lap before eking out a lead. While the Mercedes raced away, the pack behind them were fighting hard for the minor positions, with the Williams and Force Indias involved in a big squabble for third. Further back, Red Bull tells a DRS-less Vettel to move out of the way of a charging Ricciardo. Australia rejoices.

Rosberg started to close up on Hamilton as the tyres began to wear, the pair repeatedly swapping the lead before the Brit pitted for the first time. Hamilton used softer tyres to draw away before contact from Pastor Maldonado flipped Esteban Gutierrez, bringing out the safety car.

Hamilton battled to hold off Rosberg throughout the closing laps, the German launching several passing attempts but can’t quite make any of them stick. After 56 hectic laps, Hamilton heads his teammate across the line, while Sergio Perez finishes third from a fast-finishing Ricciardo.

Alonso heads Hamilton and a charging Ricciardo in the closing stages.Source: Getty Images

No. 1 — HUNGARIAN GRAND PRIXThe most recent, but hands down the best of the year. Hamilton started from pit lane in a brand-new car after a fire destroyed his before he could even set a lap in qualifying. Pre-race rain forced all teams to start on wets, Rosberg leading Bottas, Vettel and Alonso, before an early safety car allowed them to switch to slicks. However the timing of the Safety Car caught out the four leaders, leaving Ricciardo to take the lead.

He was briefly passed by an intermediate-shod Jenson Button, but the McLauren is soon pit-bound for dry tyres. Ricciardo draws away into the lead while Rosberg struggles, crucially losing a spot to Jean-Eric Vergne, who he is unable to repass. Hamilton, meanwhile, has charged up into the top 10. A crash from Perez prompted another Safety Car, which saw Ricciardo duck into the pits for another set of tyres, allowing Alonso into the lead.

The Ferrari moves away from Vergne, who is holding up a large train headed by Rosberg. The German eventually pits having failed to pass the Toro Rosso, leaving it to Hamilton to charge around the outside of the Frenchman in a brave pass around the outside of Turn 4.

As the leaders make their final stops, Ricciardo moves back into the lead. Overcoming a brief electrical glitch, he makes a late final stop that drops him to third behind Alonso and Hamilton. He makes full use of his newer tyres to run down the two world champions, passing them to take the lead and another incredible victory.

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